LA Angels Series Preview: Chasing the Rays for the Wild Card

Putting your best foot forward

The Angels series against the Dodgers went extremely well and it’s no coincidence the Angels practically owned the second game in the set after winning the first game in extremely energetic and dramatic fashion. I’m not saying the Angels need another highly dramatic game to set them on the right path in this series, only that they need to take the first game as well as the energy of the series in one strong motion. However, we do have Tyler Skaggs taking the mound for the first game and given how inconsistent and disappointing he’s been this season I wouldn’t be surprised to see another dramatic win, if the Angels are able to take the win.

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Skaggs has been awful as of late, absolutely and truly awful. His last start against the A’s, which was a highly important game for the Angels, saw Skaggs give up six runs across just four innings of work. Skaggs came into this season with hopes of putting up ace-level starts but at this point he can’t even be counted on for a single quality start.

Over his last seven starts we’ve seen him perform to a 5.92 ERA, it would be foolish to count on Skaggs for quality innings at this point. The worst part about Skaggs season thus far is how talented he is, there really is no reason he should be this awful except for the fact that he probably doesn’t have his head on straight. There seems to be more than just mechanical issues, whatever is troubling Skaggs mentally is wrecking his ability to perform on the mound.

If the Angels are going to put their best foot forward to start this series that will require Skaggs to be the first of anyone on this roster to put their best foot forward. Is he capable of that after how terrible he’s been lately? The worst part about that is that Skaggs is 100% capable of putting up a dominant start against the Rays but none of us know if he will be able to tap into that deep well of talent and get the job done. I don’t even know if Skaggs knows whether or not he can tap into that talent.

Let’s hope that he can find himself fast because the Angels are running out of buffer room regarding closing in on the wild-card.